Serious Fishing!

Matthew 4:18-22

A Christian man owned a barber shop. One night, at a revival meeting, the barber felt greatly burdened to do more with his testimony for Christ.


           The next evening, the barber began attending a "soul winners class" at his church.

                      He attended faithfully every night for two weeks.


                      He rehearsed all the material, took extensive notes,

                                 and memorized the assigned Bible verses.


                      At the end of the two weeks he received a plaque,

acknowledging his completion of the course.

The next morning, in the barber shop, he hung the plaque and bowed his head.

"Dear Lord," he prayed, "help me to witness to the first man to come through that door this morning."


           At that moment in walked the biggest, meanest, foulest man the barber had ever seen.

                      It seems this man had recently lost a bet with some "biker" buddies

                                 and now he had to get his head shaved.


                      Needless to say, the barber did not feel very comfortable

                                 quoting scripture to this angry biker.

The rest of the day did not go any better for the barber.

            At 5:00 p.m., the barber was sobbing with shame.

                      He had not witnessed to a single person.


           He bowed his head again.

This time he prayed, "Lord, if you will allow one more opportunity, I promise I will do my part."


           At that, the door opened and in walked a pleasant looking gentleman.

                      The man smiled at the barber, apologized for coming in so late

                                 and took a seat in the chair.

As the barber draped the man in his protective sheet, he began to try to remember what he was supposed to say.

           But he was having trouble remembering where to start and what to say.


           As the barber put shaving cream on the man’s face,

                      he tried to remember the answers he had learned, to the possible objections.


           As the barber began to strop his razor,

                      he realized that he simply could not remember a thing he had learned.


                      This made the barber very nervous and soon sweat began to break out on his forehead.

           Finally, in desperation, he shook the razor at the man and screamed,

                      "ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE??!!!"



Great question, bad approach!


           But, if are going to be serious fishers of men,

                      then we must understand the importance of that question.


           And we must understand what the consequences are, if the answer is “No!”


           And, we must also understand, that even a “Yes” answer, can be a wrong answer!



1. Jesus Christ is not the only way to salvation.


How many people believe that Buddists, Muslims, Jewish, Zoaraster, Shintu, Ancestor Worship, they’ll be OK, even if they don’t believe in Jesus.

           It doesn’t matter what you believe, just as long as you are sincere in your belief,

                      that’s all that really matters.


           We have confused sincerity with truth!

                      A sincere Muslim surely won’t go to hell.

 

Of course, the world sees sincere Christians as radical fundamentalists, that have gone off the deep end, and are totally wrong in their beliefs.

 

But anyone else that is sincere, must be right with God,

                                 regardless of their beliefs, or lack their of.



But that is not what God says.

           Yes, there are many roads in life, many doors we can step through.

                      But there is only one road to heaven, there is only one door that opens to God heaven.

 

Listen to what Jesus says in John 14:6: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Then there are those groups who mess with Jesus.

           They say that Jesus was just an angel.

                      Jesus was a Son of God just like we can be.

 

           The Muslims say that Jesus was a prophet, but not God’s Son.


           The Mormons say that Jesus as a son of God and that we can be a son of God just like him.

                      That there is really nothing that unique about Jesus.


                      Jesus wasn’t God’s unique Son.

                      Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin.

                      Jesus didn’t do all those miracles. 

                      Jesus didn’t die on the cross for our sins.

                      Jesus didn’t rise from the grave.

                      Jesus isn’t God in the flesh.

                      Jesus isn’t sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

 

                      Jesus was just a good man, maybe even a great man and teacher.

                                 But that is all! 

 

But in Galatians 1:8 we read: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

And in 2 John 1:7: Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

 

2 John 1:9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.


And maybe the most dangerous idea of all, is that God will surely not bar good people from heaven.

           Even in this wicked world in which we live, there are a lot of good people.

                      But they are not Christians.

                                 Surely God will not condemn them to hell!

 

I think if Bill & Melinda Gates, who are giving away billions of dollars to help people around the world.

                      But as far as I know, they are not Christians.

 

I think of the Osmond family, who have been in the news recently as Donny & Marie’s father passed away.

                      They are good people, they are good Mormons, but they are not Christians.


           I think of a neighbor out in Tulsa, where Pat and I lived for awhile.

                      Pete was a great guy and really watched over us.

                                 But Pete was not a Christian.


 

But just being good doesn’t save us.

           In fact, “good” is a relative thing.

                      Good, compared to what or who?

 

Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 18:19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone.


                      When we compare ourselves to God, none of us are good, not one of us.

                                 In Romans 3:23 we read: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

If we have all sinned, and no one is good,

                      then there is no way God could let good people into heaven,

                                 for there are no good people for God to let in!



If we are serious about fishing for men, then we need to understand that even a yes answer to the question:

           Are you prepared to die?

                      Can be the wrong answer.


           We need to ask them why they feel they are prepared to die.


           

2. There is no such thing as Hell.

We love certain verses in the Bible, like John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

And, 1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!...

 

And, 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

 

 

People understand, and rightly so, that God is a loving God.

           And so they rationalize that since God is so loving, so caring,

                      He would not, could not, send anyone to hell.

 

           How can a loving God send anyone to hell?

 

           And not only that, how could a loving God even create such a place as Hell.

                      I just don’t believe it exists!

 

 

Maybe people need to read a few other verses in the Bible, like these:

 

Luke 16:23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

 

Luke 16:24 So he called to him, ’Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’


Mat 25:41 "Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

 

Mat 25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

 

Jesus made it very clear that Hell is real, and that it’s an eternal place of punishment, pain and agony.

 

           And no, a loving God does not want anyone to go to Hell.

That is the beauty of John 3:16, that God so loves us that,

                                 He is willing to sacrifice His own Son,

                                            to save us from the ravages of an eternity in Hell.

 

           God wants us in heaven, for all eternity with Him.

                      But there can be no sin in heaven, and we have all sinned, condemning ourselves to Hell.

 

 

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 18:8-9 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Jesus is saying that we must get rid of the sin in our life.

           We must repent, we must seek God’s forgiveness, and God’s cleansing,

                      so that we can go to heaven.

 

           And that does not happen by our being good enough.

                      It only happens as we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life,

                                 and as we come to know the cleansing power of His shed blood in our life.

 

           1 John 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

 

           Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The realization that Hell is real,

           and that people are headed there, if they don’t make Jesus the Lord of their life,

                      regardless of how good we or anyone else may think they are,

                                 is going to make us serious fishers of men.

 

           If we don’t believe in hell, we will not fish at all.

                      Why bother others?

3. There is plenty of time.

One of the reasons that Christians are not always serious about fishing for men,

           is that we feel there is plenty of time, no reason to get in hurry about all of this salvation stuff.

 

           Last week we talked about recognizing the open doors that God provides for us,

                      so that we can talk to them about Jesus, about their need for salvation.

 

           And even though we often recognize the open door,

                      we just don’t walk through it because we feel there will be a more convenient time.

 

 

But, if I have learned anything in life, it’s that we may not have near as much time as we think.

           Have you ever heard the phrase “Time Flies!”

                      Well, let me tell you that it does, and it flies much fast the older you get.

 

           And whether we think much about it or not, our time on this earth is limited.

                      We are all going to die and death could come at any time.

 

                      Someone steps on a land mine, and they are gone.

                      Someone goes into the wrong convenience store at the wrong time and is shot to death.

                      Someone is driving down the highway and a drunk driver takes them out.

                      Someone appears perfectly healthy and suddenly dies of heart attack.

                      Someone notices a pain that is out of the ordinary and dies in weeks of cancer.

 

           Well, you get the idea.

 

 

God did not give all of us the same amount of talent,

           nor the same amount of wealth,

                      but He has given each of us the same amount of time.

           Imagine that a bank credits your account each morning with $86,400.

                      No balance is carried over from day to day.

                      Any balance is deleted each evening.

 

                      What would you do when you knew that you would not use all your daily balance?

                                 Why, withdraw every penny, of course!

           You have such a bank, and so have I.

                      The name of our bank is TIME.

 

                      Every day we are credited with 86,400 seconds.

                                 Every night, that which we have not used is debited from our account.

 

                      TIME bank allows no overdraft, there is no going back for a second chance.

 

TIME bank does not allow borrowing from tomorrow, there are no rollover minutes.

                                 The clock ticks away, never waiting for anyone to catch up.

 

           And just when our clock will run down, we don’t really know.

In James 4:14 we read: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

 

 

Author Terry Muck, tells of a letter he received from a man, who used to have absolutely no interest in spiritual things.

 

           He lived next door to a Christian, and they had a casual relationship, like neighbors often do.

 

           Then the non-Christian’s wife was stricken with cancer, and died three months later.

 

Here’s the letter:
 

“I was in total despair. I went through the funeral preparations and the service like I was in a trance. And after the service I went to the path along the river and walked all night. But I did not walk alone. My neighbor - afraid for me, I guess - stayed with me all night.

 

He did not speak; he did not even walk beside me. He just followed me. When the sun finally came up over the river he came over to me and said, "Let’s go get some breakfast."

I go to church now. My neighbors’s church. A religion that can produce the kind of caring and love that my neighbors showed me, is something I want to find out more about. I want to be like that. I want to love and be loved like that, for the rest of my life.”


 

What made the difference in this man’s life?

It was that one Christian, who dared to make the most of the door of opportunity,

                      God had given him.

 

                      A door through which he could walk and reveal Christ to his friend.

 

           There were few words . . . but the message came through.

                      He had learned how to REDEEM THE TIME.

 

How about you and me?

           How are we handling this precious gift of time that God has given us?

Conclusion:

Bob Russell said - Jesus gave his life to save the lost.

                                     He wants us to be fishers of men.

 

Fishing was not an occasional diversion for Peter and Andrew- it was their livelihood.

           They fished nearly every day to feed their families and stay alive.

 

           Evangelism is not something believers do, when its convenient;

                      it should be our primary calling.

 

           If we really believe that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ,

                      then we will do everything within our power, to seek and save the lost.

 

Jesus said to the Peter and Andrew “Come follow me and I will make you fisher of men!”

 

           Jesus is saying to us today, that as Christians we are to be “fishers of men!”

 

That point is made very clear in Matthew 28:19 when Jesus said: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

                                            Jesus wants us, like Peter and Andrew, to get serious about fishing.

           Fishing for men and women.

                      For those who are not prepared to die!

 

           And to tell them about the only One,

                      who can prepare them for death.

 

           Actually, the only one,

                      who can prepare them to live for all eternity,

                                 in God’s wonderful heaven.